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Emergency Department

Our Emergency Department is one of only five stand-alone paediatric emergency departments in the country. We see children under the age of 16, and some older children who are cared for by our in-hospital specialty teams. In 2016, we saw nearly 60,000 children with problems ranging from broken bones, minor illnesses, specialist medical care for rare diseases and major trauma.

Our department has three resuscitation beds, ten cubicles, a Clinical Decisions Unit (CDU) where children are seen if they are referred in by a GP. We also have a six-bed observation unit. This is used if children need to stay for short term observation. We have a multidisciplinary team in the department which includes doctors, advanced nurse practitioners, emergency nurse practitioners, nurses and clinical support workers.

The incident mix in the department is approximately 60% medical and 40% trauma patients. A wide range of medical conditions are seen in addition to the department being the regional Major Trauma Centre for paediatric trauma for the Birmingham area and West Midlands region. Acute review clinics for medical problems and minor injuries are held in the department five days a week. Approximately 2,000 patients per year are seen in these clinics.

We have an active research programme. Our department was one of the founding sites within the Paediatric Emergency Research in the UK and Ireland (PERUKI) network, and has contributed to the vast majority of multi-centre PERUKI studies to date.

Location

The Emergency Department is located on the ground floor of Parsons House, Children's Hospital.